Cells

This second edition provides an overview of recent developments and approaches used by researchers to investigate the properties and functions of mammary epithelial and stem cells, which will contribute to understand the heterogeneity of the mammary gland and of breast cancer.

Signi?cant advances in stem cell research and their potentials for therap- tic applications have attracted the attention of the scienti?c community and captured the imagination of society as a whole. Not so long ago, the study of most stem cells, other than those that regenerated the haematopoietic system, was rather obscure and limited to a relatively small number of researchers and laboratories. The uproar over stem cells really began in 1998 with the s- cessful derivation of pluripotent human embryonic stem (ES) cells by James Thomson and co-workers.

This eighth volume in the essential Springer series of cutting-edge contributions in stem cell and cancer stem cell research features the work of 85 authors based in more than a dozen nations. It provides scientists in this vital field with the latest data and techniques, enhancing our knowledge base of the causes, diagnosis, and cell-based treatment of major human diseases including cancer, as well as therapies targeting debilitating injuries to human tissue and organs. The volume’s six sections are arranged thematically, covering stem cell culture, bone marrow stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, the reprogramming and differentiation of stem cells, treatments, and transplantation.

Volume 11 in this series discusses therapeutic applications of stem cells in disease and tissue injury. Coverage includes pluripotent stem cells, which can give rise to the endodermal, ectodermal, and mesodermal lineages; multipotent stem cells, which can generate all cells in a particular lineage and unipotent stem cells, which can give rise to only one cell type.

Your cells are talking about you.

First of all, the editors of this special volume would like to thank all the authors for their excellent contributions. We would also like to thank Prof. Dr. Thomas Scheper as well as Dr.Marion Hertel and Ingrid Samide fromSpringer for providing the opportunity to compose this volume and Springer for organizational and technical support. Tissue engineering represents one of the major emerging fields in modern biotechnology. Tissue engineering combines different disciplines ranging from biological and material sciences to engineering and clinical disciplines. The aim of tissue engineering is the development of therapeutic approaches to substitute diseased organs or tissues or improve their function. Stem cells are early progenitors that may substitute diseased tissues or provide cues for endogenous healing. Stem cells are present in virtually all tissues. The first chapters describe different sources of stem cells including isolation and expansion. The use of fetal tissues and umbilical cord is discussed as they come from immunoprivileged sites and are considered to be early stem cells. The use of adipose-derived stem cells is discussed as a readily available autologous source. Subsequently, newer techniques for “manufacturing” stem cells from somatic cells using “induced pluripotent stem cell” technology are discussed and described in two chapters. The following chapter deals with bioreactor cultivation of stem cells. Specific tissues such as cartilage and endothelial precursors built the bridge to the last chapters.

Since different types of stem cells for therapeutic applications have recently been proposed, this timely volume explores various sources of stem cells for tissue and organ regeneration and discusses their advantages and limitations. Also discussed are pros and cons for using embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, and adult stem cells isolated from postnatal tissues. Different types of adult stem cells for therapeutic applications are also reviewed, including hematopoietic stem cells, epidermal stem cells, endothelial progenitors, neural stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, and very small embryonic-like stem cells.

This book represents an updated overview on selected topics related to mesenchymal stem cells as well as induced pluripotent stem cells.